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GREENSBORO — International Talk Like a Pirate Day isn't until Sept. 19, but the theater students at UNCG will be well-rehearsed when it rolls around.

In addition to performing in Triad Stage's "Bloody Blackbeard," students are gearing up for the third season of THTR 232, Triad Stage and UNCG Theatre's collaborative summer theater festival. This year's festival includes the pirate-themed family feature "Redbeard's Revenge" as well as the late-night showing of "Mere Mortals" by David Ives.

"We originally thought of doing Charles Ludlum's 'Bluebeard' just to be able to continue the pirate theme, or at least the beard theme," says UNCG theater professor Jim Wren, who coordinates THTR 232.

"But ultimately, we scuttled that plan."

He says this collaboration between UNCG and Triad Stage gives students a chance to add an Equity (union) production to their resumes and gain repertory experience by simultaneously performing in a family production and a small second-stage show.

It's exhausting work for the students. Some will perform in "Blackbeard" and immediately afterwards head upstairs for another couple of hours to present "Mere Mortals," only to grab a few hours sleep before heading back for an afternoon production of "Redbeard's Revenge."

"It's a wonderful experience for our students, but it's really a challenge," Wren says. "It's a killer schedule. We went into rehearsals May 14, and they won't have a day off until June 23."

Playing miniature golf and sailing the open seas sounds like a perfect summer vacation to most of us. But Wren says THTR 232 is a crucible event for his students: a last chance to test "their career choice, their stamina and their creative sensibilities."

"Mere Mortals" will inaugurate the third-floor UpStage Cabaret, where Triad Stage will also hold four small-scale shows throughout the year, each running six weekends.

"It's a beautiful space," Wren says. "We enjoyed converting the rehearsal space, but now we're loving using this whole space, with plays that will wrap around the tables of patrons instead of all being on a central stage."

The success of THTR 232's late-night shows helped Triad Stage co-founders Preston Lane and Rich Whittington decide that a cabaret space would be viable.

"(THTR 232) was an opportunity to 'test the waters' for the second stage," Whittington says. "For two summers, they've transformed our old rehearsal hall into a performance space. This year, they'll have more seating, more flexible light and sound systems and an actual control booth -- not to mention beer and wine service before the shows."

"Mere Mortals" is David Ives's 1997 collection of six one-act comedies (THTR 232 is doing just five) that deal with self-doubt and identity crises.

Ives ("All in the Timing") is a wordsmith as much as a playwright, someone whose plays are full of wit, wordplay and occasional whimsy.

In "Foreplay," for example, the audience follows Chuck trying out his technique on three different dates at a miniature golf course, with the same lines having very different results. "Time Flies" plays out the 24-hour life span of two mayflies as if they are the subject of a nature documentary.

"Degas, C'est Moi" is a more vivid twist on Kafka's "Metamorphosis," with a man suddenly believing he's the Impressionist painter. "Speed-the-Play" is a parody of David Mamet plays, with their harsh language and rat-a-tat dialogue. And "Mere Mortals" has construction workers imaging themselves as famous characters.

"I guess you could call these sketches 'Saturday Night Live' with a bigger brain," Wren says.

"Redbeard's Revenge or The School for Pirates" will be performed on the main stage. Wren, who wrote the show with Joe Sturgeon, his collaborator on "Here There Be Dragons" and "Uncle Ulysses and the Mythic Sword," describes it as "Dead Poets Society" meets "The Pirates of Penzance." It's aimed at audiences ages 4 and older.

The story has the girls of a very proper boarding school discovering the diary of the dread pirate Redbeard and opening their own school for training pirates. Things take an unexpected turn when the pirate himself comes looking for his journal.

"We've always had an affinity for Gilbert & Sullivan operettas," Wren says. "So given an opportunity to develop a pirate theme, we decided to have a lot of fun and do our own operetta."Contact Leslie Mizell at LAMizell@aol.com.